Tag Archive | "economic collapse"
Quickening
In the United States, various states offer glimpses into the future of industrial economies. Wisconsin is filling the mainstream media outlets, but California really leads the way. In the latter state, the lights have gone out and the water has been turned off for a significant number of people. Those events are coming to the [...]
Continue reading...The race is on
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Everywhere I turn, I read and hear about $200 oil in the near future (here’s one recent example, from somebody who should know better, here’s another from hyperinflation guru Gonzalo Lira, and here’s another from historian Niall Ferguson. Investors are being sucked in, too, and at least one pundit fool has jumped the shark, calling [...]
Continue reading...C-REALM radio interview
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Late last week I was interviewed by KMO for the C-REALM radio show. The resulting podcast runs about an hour, and it’s posted here (go directly to podcast here). All comments welcome, all the time. My monthly essay for Transition Voice, barely modified from an earlier essay in this space, was posted here today.
Continue reading...Demise of the dollar
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The U.S. dollar continues its journey from Brobdingnagian to Lilliputian stature, and the latest trade report is a prelude to the dollar as microbe. The Prime Mover in this case is King Ben, who has the helicopter on track for a one-way trip to Zimbabwe with every American along for the ride. Death of the [...]
Continue reading...Starting over
Friday, February 18, 2011
Judging from my email in-box and the occasional comment in this space, my essays have taken a surprising turn. It seems my efforts are worth alerting the authorities, at least according to comments from anonymous cowards who hide behind online monikers. Unsurprisingly, the black helicopters haven’t arrived yet. Apparently the authorities are otherwise occupied. If [...]
Continue reading...Or die trying
Friday, February 11, 2011
I wrote an entire book on the life of the mind, if you can imagine that. A significant portion of the book was dedicated to the importance of a liberal education, and I’ve written about that topic in this space, too: Liberal teaching means putting everything I know, and everything I am, at risk in [...]
Continue reading...Third time’s a charm?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Kurt Vonnegut often described World Wars I and II as western civilization’s first and second attempts, respectively, to commit suicide. He hinted at peak oil as our third attempt in his memoir, Man Without a Country, which was published shortly before his death. After burying our collective heads in the sand for two years, peak [...]
Continue reading...Talking about oil in Oil City, USA
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
I presented in Austin, Texas, 9 January 2011 under the title, Durable Living: Preparing for Climate Change and Energy Decline. Free and open to the public, the event was sponsored by Design~Build~Live and Crude Awakening Austin, and attended by about 30 people. I was shooting video of this presentation, but my camera failed 15 minutes [...]
Continue reading...CYA
Thursday, December 9, 2010
I was enjoying lunch with a former student and long-time friend yesterday after walking across campus on a gloriously sunny day in the American Southwest. I mentioned to my friend the resurgence of “fashion” among young women — women without pants, I call them. You’ve probably seen one of these fashion princesses, wearing a skin-tight [...]
Continue reading...We’re toast
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
When people tell me the dire messages about which I write don’t resonate with other people, I struggle with a coherent response. Would you prefer continued overshoot on an overshot planet? Would you prefer we keep heating our overheated home? Would you prefer we ignore the most important issues in the history of our species? [...]
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Thursday, April 7, 2011
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